


fairytale

by kurosykrie



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I'm Sorry, Inspired by Music, It's honestly not that fluffy, M/M, Sick Character, There's also very little volleyball, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:25:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6569827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurosykrie/pseuds/kurosykrie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oikawa loved fairytales. He wanted his prince, his happy ending, just like everyone else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	fairytale

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOeFSgQEsMQ). It's a fairly old Chinese song, and the work is named after it, but I really recommend that you listen to it after you read this story, unless you don't mind spoilers. It translates literally to "Children's Stories", so fairytales, basically. It's my first attempt at angst, and also this writing style, hope you enjoy! Thank you so much to Charlotte for helping me read through this, and correcting any mistakes :) Constructive feedback is always welcome! :D

Oikawa had loved fairytales. Before aliens and volleyball, he was always telling Iwaizumi about the latest one he’s read. He’d never picked a favourite though. He could never choose, or so he always told Iwaizumi. That was before he came running out of his house one day, a book in one hand and the other already unlocking the gate to the Iwaizumis’, dashing into the house, shouting, “Iwa-chan! Iwa-chan! I found my favourite story!”

It was, surprisingly, Sleeping Beauty.

“I want a prince like that, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa had declared, waving the book in Iwaizumi’s face. 

“He’ll save me from eternal sleep, and then we’ll live in a huge castle!”

"Shittykawa, stop that! I’m not gonna be your prince,” Iwaizumi had grumbled, the insult a new word learned in elementary school.

Oikawa had stopped then, staring at Iwaizumi, before bursting out into giggles, barely managing to choke out, “Iwa-chan wouldn’t be my… My prince!”

Another peal of laughter, “Iwa-chan isn’t even prince material!”

By then, Iwaizumi’s face had turned red, and it was only a matter of time before-

“Ow! So mean, Iwa-chan. See, this is why you aren’t princely.” 

~*~*~

Oikawa picks up volleyball, and Iwaizumi soon follows, but Oikawa’s fairytale obsession stayed, growing alongside his already out of control alien obsession.

~*~*~

“It’s not fair!”

“Oikawa.”

“We never _win!_ ”

“Oikawa.”

“It’s so frustrating!”

“ _Tooru_.”

“What?!”

“We’ll beat him next time. Together, ok?”

“... Promise?”

“Yeah.”

~*~*~

 They grow up, and after their third loss to Shiratorizawa, no, to Ushijima, the stack of fairytales find themselves in the donation pile.

~*~*~

 “You aren’t my mom, Hajime!”

“You can’t possibly keep playing!" 

“I’m _fine._ ”

“You’re _bleeding._ ” 

~*~*~

They make a trip to the hospital. A problem of the heart, the doctor said, frowning down at the test results. It’s fatal, the doctor said, hands locked together on the desk. You’ll only survive with a transplant, the doctor said, lips pursed. You have to quit, the doctor said, peering sympathetically at him.

Oikawa didn’t move, but Iwaizumi lead him out, sitting him on one of the waiting room chairs before returning to the doctor’s office.

For what, Oikawa doesn’t know.  

All Oikawa knows now is that without volleyball, without his fairytales, and still, no prince, Iwaizumi was all he had left to fall back on.

~*~*~

“What happened to your books on fairytales?”

“I threw them out." 

“Why?”

“Not important.”

“Oikawa…”

“It doesn’t matter, ok? They’re not real, they don’t exist, there are no happy endings in the real world. What’s the point of keeping them around, if I can’t get my happy ending?” 

“…” 

~*~*~

Iwaizumi quits volleyball when Oikawa can’t continue playing, an unspoken promise that if they couldn’t play together, they wouldn’t play at all.

He picks up piano instead, and Oikawa lives for the days Iwaizumi would come over, when they would squeeze onto the small piano bench he had, his head resting on Iwaizumi’s shoulder, Iwaizumi pressing awkwardly at the keys, the cacophony of notes music to Oikawa’s ears, providing the same comfort that his fairytales used to. 

~*~*~

“This note doesn’t sound right.”

“Shut up, Asskawa!”

“Why don’t you try this instead?”

~*~*~

Sometimes, instead of playing, they would sit curled up together on the couch, watching a gory, action-packed alien movie, Oikawa picks out. It’s a cheesy romance when he’s more in the mood for sweet kisses and stupid lines. He always cries when they watch those, claiming, again, that happy endings don’t exist and Iwaizumi would watch him out of the corner of his eye, pretending he doesn’t hear the sniffles, a smile tugging at his lips. This was how they were, how they always will be and Oikawa wouldn’t trade it for the world, even if Iwaizumi sometimes laughed outright at him, saying that if he didn’t want to watch an alien movie, and if he cried at romance, then they should’ve watched Godzilla instead.  Oikawa had just glared at him, rubbing frantically at his eyes.

 

~*~*~

 

“You won’t forget me, right? Not like that guy in the movie. Not even after-“  
  
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence. You’ll be fine. You’ll live until you’re eighty, and you’ll still have shitty hair.”

“Rude!”

“…”

“But… You won’t, right?”

“… I won’t.”

“… Promise?”

“Yeah.”

~*~*~

Oikawa puts Godzilla on next time and Iwaizumi kisses him for the first time. He stops using Iwaizumi’s first name as an insult.

~*~*~

Nothing much changes for a while.

~*~*~

Over the year, Iwaizumi’s piano skills improve steadily and he’s asked to perform for the school’s cultural fair. Oikawa’s health declines to the point where he could barely find the energy to walk anymore, but he insists on going to watch, excited to see “my Hajime perform! It’ll be grand, and amazing, and then Hajime will be famous!”

Iwaizumi had hesitated, but conceded to the puppy eyes, worried and nervous.

~*~*~

Oikawa ends up in the hospital hours before the fair.

~*~*~

 “You have to go perform.”

“Stupidkawa, I’m not leaving.”

“But you need-“

“No! No, I don’t need to go perform. I need you to fucking live, you bastard.”

“Ok. _I_ need to hear you play. Just… Just one last time.”

“…”

“Please.”

“It’s not the last fucking time, there’ll be plenty more times.”

“What if… I tell you there isn’t?”

“There will be! We’ll make sure there is. What happened to your shitty fairy tales? I’ll be your prince and, fuck it, I’ll be a fucking angel if you want me to. We’ll write our own goddamn happy ending, and we’ll live until we’re all wrinkly, but we will fucking _live_ and it’ll be _just_ like a fairytale.”

~*~*~

Iwaizumi loses to the pout again, even if it was weaker than normal, and the face it was on was white and drawn. Or perhaps, he gives in, because of that. He presses Oikawa’s phone into his hand, promising to be back, and leaves.

It’s the last time Oikawa will see him.

~*~*~

The familiar opening tune of the song they made up plays tinny through the speakers of the phone, and Oikawa smiles, even as the hand holding it loosens its grip, the phone slipping out, falling, hitting the bed with a dull “thud”. Music continues to play even as Oikawa’s eyes close, his heartbeat faint, his lips pale, his hair spread out like a halo on his pillow.

~*~*~

He drifts in and out of sleep, vaguely remembering a calloused hand squeezing his, a whispered promise that he’ll never be alone, a pair of chapped lips lingering on his own, and then, nothingness.

~*~*~

When Oikawa wakes up, his heart beats stronger than it has in a long time, and Iwaizumi is gone.

~*~*~

 

“You know, Hajime, it’s not a fairytale if the prince isn’t around.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Here's a rough translation of the song: 
> 
> I don't remember how long it's been,  
> Since I last heard you tell your favourite story.  
> I thought about it, for a long time,  
> Starting to get nervous,  
> Did I do something wrong again?  
> You were crying, as you told me,  
> Fairy tales are all lies.  
> I can't possibly be,  
> Your Prince Charming.  
> Perhaps you don't know,  
> From the moment you told me you love me,  
> My night sky lit up with stars. 
> 
> Chorus: 
> 
> I'm willing to become,  
> The angel you love in the fairy tale.  
> Spread my arms, like wings,  
> To protect you.  
> You have to believe,  
> Believe that our story will be like a fairy tale,  
> A happy ending.  
> You were crying, as you told me,  
> Fairy tales are all lies. 
> 
> I can't possibly be,  
> Your Prince Charming.  
> Perhaps you don't know,  
> From the moment you told me you love me,  
> My night sky lit up with stars. 
> 
> Chorus: 
> 
> I'm willing to become,  
> The angel you love in the fairy tale.  
> Spread my arms, like wings,  
> To protect you.  
> You have to believe,  
> Believe that our story will be like a fairy tale,  
> A happy ending. 
> 
> Chorus x2: 
> 
> I want to become,  
> The angel you love in the fairy tale.  
> Spread my arms, like wings,  
> To protect you.  
> You have to believe,  
> Believe that our story will be like a fairy tale,  
> A happy ending. 
> 
> We will write our ending,  
> Together. 
> 
>  
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed! Honestly, I can never watch the MV of this song without crying :')


End file.
